We are living during a time in the history of manufacturing which is unparalleled. Global economy, technology, and the means to design and manufacture in small lots in "near real time" define the manufacturing world today. Silicon Graphics Inc. not only develops and markets products in this environment, but also provides technology that is driving manufacturing to new levels.

Fast interactive graphics, digital media, high-end visualization, and supercomputing broadly define the technologies that Silicon Graphics(R) develops and markets. The implementation of these technologies appeals to a variety of industries, including engineering, manufacturing, geoscience, biomedicine, and entertainment. SiliconWorks(TM) is the umbrella under which these technologies for engineering and manufacturing come together.

SiliconWorks provides companies with a number of benefits in developing and bringing products to market. Faster development cycles, reduced costs, higher quality, greater customer involvement, and better communication are all direct benefits of using the SiliconWorks environment. SiliconWorks allows companies to accomplish this by providing three technologically enhanced processes fundamental to manufacturing--innovation, collaboration, and validation.

Most manufacturers agree that these processes are critical to the success of their businesses; the issue is how to achieve them. Silicon Graphics makes them possible through enabling technologies.

Innovation--the introduction of new methods, ideas, or products--is the genesis of the design and manufacturing process. Creating something new, whether products or ideas, requires an environment that is intuitive and unobtrusive to users. The ability to quickly investigate many approaches to a problem in search of the best solution can only be applied when the design environment is tailored to the user. Real-time interactivity, a high degree of realism, and powerful applications are necessary for an environment to promote innovation.

Collaboration is all about involving more people in the manufacturing process. Collaboration helps groups within the organization work together more effectively. Cross-functional communication is essential to all dimensions of success--time to market, project cost, product performance, and product quality can all be traced to effective communication.

The key to fostering collaboration is to increase communication and cooperation in a natural manner that will be embraced by the product team. Digital media tools have emerged as the key element in creating this type of environment. The principle of digital media is "the right media for the message," and text, audio, video, images, and 3D models are what make up media types. These media types are necessary in providing the capabilities required to communicate the complex and varied messages of manufacturing.

Validation provides the ability to assemble, test, and evaluate the product in a simulated computer environment prior to manufacturing. Technologies like advanced design, visual simulation, digital mock-up, and design analysis are being applied today to gain technical insight and customer acceptance early. By interacting with and testing digital models, engineers can more quickly communicate a complex design to others and further understand the inner workings of complex systems.

Validation requirements are tremendous. Simulating the real world requires advanced visualization and compute technologies. For example, assembling an aircraft in a computer requires a system that can handle many thousands of components, provide users with a highly interactive environment, and display the product in a realistic setting.

Another aspect of validation, computational analysis, provides designers and engineers with an environment in which to simulate the design sequence of products prior to manufacturing, allowing for refinement and improvement. Stress analysis, fluid dynamics, kinematics, and other simulations are performed to validate the engineering design constraints placed on a product. These computationally intense applications require tremendous compute resources and powerful graphics for analysis display.

SiliconWorks is the Silicon Graphics difference for manufacturers. SiliconWorks delivers three compelling competitive advantages to manufacturers--innovation, collaboration, and validation. It draws upon enabling technologies in which Silicon Graphics leads the industry--interactive graphics, digital media, advanced visualization, and symmetric multiprocessing. Silicon Graphics SiliconWorks gives manufacturers the tools to develop better products, get them to market faster, and compete in today's global market.